00:00The release of SEA results online was a killjoy for our cameras, unable to capture the emotion
00:07of students and parents as they overcame what has become a rite of passage for all enlisted
00:14into the education system.
00:17Most students accessed their results online, which we learned were available on the online
00:23portal from as early as 10.30pm on Thursday, before the midnight time advanced by the Education
00:30Ministry.
00:31The practice of visiting the top three performers at their schools has also been discontinued
00:37for a second year since the Education Ministry failed to accurately award students of 2022,
00:44resulting in the first place being announced as in fact the second place student.
00:50Meanwhile, TUTA calls for the SEA exam to be replaced by continuous assessment.
00:56The National Parent Teachers Association says it is too early to make a definitive statement
01:02on the outcome of this year's SEA results.
01:06But it says access to the portal was seamless and some parents indicated they were able
01:11to successfully log in before midnight.
01:14The Sanatan Dharma Mahasabha says of the 1,591 students across their 43 schools writing
01:22the exam, 1,200 got seven-year schools.
01:27Vijay Maharaj, Secretary General of the SDMS, credits high performance on parental and community
01:34involvement in education.
01:36It is parental plus the community.
01:42In the families, you have extended families like grandparents and so forth.
01:46You know, a lot of people bring in their, and you know, grandparents, how they are,
01:50they're not hesitant to crack the whip.
01:52The Presbyterian School Board told us it was not in a position to speak yet on the results,
01:59but Vikram Ramlal of the board says they will be taking a particular look at the drop in
02:04English language arts performance to determine what they need to do differently going forward.
02:10Mr. Ramlal says their position on SEA is that it should not be a singular exam and
02:16they support a continuous assessment.
02:18Meanwhile, Sharon Mangru of the Catholic Education Board confirms it was easy accessing the online
02:26results portal.
02:27Most of our schools, the principals are quite pleased with their results.
02:33I don't think we've had anything that was very unexpected.
02:37We've got at least one school that is more than pleased, very, very happy with the results
02:44because it is a vast improvement over previous years where we've had very few resets or remedials.
02:55She says education systems across the world are predicted to take a few years while to
03:00recover from the effects of COVID-19.
03:04Ms. Mangru has her own suspicion about its effect on English language arts, which saw
03:10the steepest decline in mean raw scores.
03:13She describes SEA as a lottery system.
03:17I am suspecting that that lower performance in the English language assessment has to
03:23do with that lack of socialization during the COVID period.
03:27They spent a considerable amount of time home, their socialization was limited, less
03:36time talking to people, but they may have been talking via the machines, via the cell
03:43phones in particular.
03:44I didn't know what young people talking via cell phones was like.
03:49And if we can come up with a better way that gives, recognizes parents' right to choose
03:55a school that is consistent with their values and so on, then we should use it.
04:02But I think there's far more than that that we need to do.
04:05We need to educate parents about what is available in the range of schools that the government
04:11of Trinidad and Tobago has.
04:16The Anglican School Board will still meeting with principals and promise a response next
04:21week.
04:22Ashita Wari, Rupert Irvine, TV6 News.
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